Forensic Science: Crime on File #8 The Galway Guitars
THEGALWAYGUITARS LEADING ROCK GROUP OFIRELAND IN FIRST AMERICAN CONCERT AT EIGHT TONIGHT AT THE CENTRAL BRANCH OF THE LIBRARY
The city seemed plastered with posters, and by six o’clock young people had started to gather to be sure of getting good seats. Sara Hull beamed. “It’s a wonderful ad for the library.”
But Detective Inspector Bill Tawson was all business. “We’ve had a tip that one of the Galway Guitars is fromGalway, but can’t even play a guitar,” he confided to Sara. “According to our source, Wishy O’Mara, the young IRA leader, has slipped out ofIrelandin place of one of the real singers. He’s related to the boy and looks a lot like him – and the trouble is, he’s played it so smart he’s never been arrested, so there are not fingerprints. He’s supposed to be planning to go toNew Yorkwhere the Guitars are scheduled to appear next, and plant a bomb in the British Embassy. We’d pick up all five of ‘em, but one boy is the son of a diplomat and there’s likely to be a sticky incident if we do. However, Officer Patner there – ” he indicated a long-haired young man who looked like a confirmed hippie “—is a good guitar player on the side. He’s going to watch carefully, and point out the guy who’s faking – they say this Wishy doesn’t know one end of a musical instrument from the other.”
The Galway Guitars, however, had anticipated this police approach. They arrived at the library ruddy and cheerful – and all with heavily bandaged left hands. “We’ll have a bit of a time accompanying ourselves tonight – we all got caught in the same swinging door,” the leader explained as the audience roared with laughter. “However, our brave Irish voices will more than make up for our wee difficulty – a one-handed Irishman is as good as a three-handed Englishman, after all.”
“Okay, Sherlock,” Bill said to Sara after exchanging an exasperated glance with Patner. “Which one do you think it is? And if you don’t know, how do you propose we find out?”
“Simple,” said Sara. “Fingerprint them all.”
“Sherlock, you’re usually a good listener. I told you, we don’t have O’Mara’s prints – what would we compare them with?”
“Nothing,” said Sara. “Now you listen.” And, very quietly, she explained how fingerprinting the Galway Guitars would trap the elusive Wishy O’Mara.
Two hours later, O’Mara was behind bars waiting for a deportation order. The other Guitars, blustering and ranting, but basically resigned at the thought of the thousands of dollars waiting for them, were on their way to New York with eight unbandaged hands.
The Galway Guitars
THEGALWAYGUITARS
LEADING ROCK GROUP OFIRELAND
IN FIRST AMERICAN CONCERT AT EIGHT TONIGHT
AT THE CENTRAL BRANCH OF THE LIBRARY
The city seemed plastered with posters, and by six o’clock young people had started to gather to be sure of getting good seats. Sara Hull beamed. “It’s a wonderful ad for the library.”
But Detective Inspector Bill Tawson was all business. “We’ve had a tip that one of the Galway Guitars is fromGalway, but can’t even play a guitar,” he confided to Sara. “According to our source, Wishy O’Mara, the young IRA leader, has slipped out ofIrelandin place of one of the real singers. He’s related to the boy and looks a lot like him – and the trouble is, he’s played it so smart he’s never been arrested, so there are not fingerprints. He’s supposed to be planning to go toNew Yorkwhere the Guitars are scheduled to appear next, and plant a bomb in the British Embassy. We’d pick up all five of ‘em, but one boy is the son of a diplomat and there’s likely to be a sticky incident if we do. However, Officer Patner there – ” he indicated a long-haired young man who looked like a confirmed hippie “—is a good guitar player on the side. He’s going to watch carefully, and point out the guy who’s faking – they say this Wishy doesn’t know one end of a musical instrument from the other.”
The Galway Guitars, however, had anticipated this police approach. They arrived at the library ruddy and cheerful – and all with heavily bandaged left hands. “We’ll have a bit of a time accompanying ourselves tonight – we all got caught in the same swinging door,” the leader explained as the audience roared with laughter. “However, our brave Irish voices will more than make up for our wee difficulty – a one-handed Irishman is as good as a three-handed Englishman, after all.”
“Okay, Sherlock,” Bill said to Sara after exchanging an exasperated glance with Patner. “Which one do you think it is? And if you don’t know, how do you propose we find out?”
“Simple,” said Sara. “Fingerprint them all.”
“Sherlock, you’re usually a good listener. I told you, we don’t have O’Mara’s prints – what would we compare them with?”
“Nothing,” said Sara. “Now you listen.” And, very quietly, she explained how fingerprinting the Galway Guitars would trap the elusive Wishy O’Mara.
Two hours later, O’Mara was behind bars waiting for a deportation order. The other Guitars, blustering and ranting, but basically resigned at the thought of the thousands of dollars waiting for them, were on their way to New York with eight unbandaged hands.